PORT TOWNSEND – A proposal to make the entire Jefferson Healthcare hospital campus smoke free will go before the hospital commissioners for consideration later this month.
Smokers have been unable to light up within 25 feet of doors and windows of public buildings since December 2005 when Initiative-901 went into effect statewide, after it was approved by 63 percent of voters.
But now, a local plan is being drafted to restrict smoking anywhere on the hospital grounds.
“It’s a healthy example,” said Jill Buhler, Jefferson County Hospital Commission chairwoman.
“It’s not just a pie-in-the-sky example. At this point, my personal opinion is I’m highly in favor of a non-smoking campus.
“We need to stand for what we are.”
Buhler and the four other hospital commissioners will hear about a proposed year-long implementation plan to restrict smoking at the hospital at the June 20 meeting in the Jefferson Healthcare hospital auditorium, 834 Sheridan St.
The plan calls for a year-long period before the campus goes entirely non-smoking, if that’s what the hospital commissioners decide, during which employees and patients would be educated on alternatives to smoking, she said.
Counseling would be offered on ways to quit.
Nicotine gum and patches would be provided.
